Cold of Ages

When I first heard that Ash Borer was taking on more influences from traditional "2nd wave" black metal bands for this new album, I was initially worried that they would lose some of the majesty that has existing on their past works. Not that I dislike the 2nd wave; as a matter fact I love it, but in terms of Ash Borer and the other "Cascadian black metal" bands I feel like they have definitely progressed past just being 2nd wave copycats and have something wonderful to bring to the black metal world. So naturally as I first started listening to "Cold of Ages" I was a little worried at the beginning.

Interestingly enough the album begins with a dark passage that sounds not unlike old Ash Borer! I was waiting and waiting for this definite 2nd wave influence to arrive. I waited and waited. Then the actual black metal kicked in and it sounded just like good ol' Ash Borer. Heavy and fast repetitive, droning tremolo riffs. I kept waiting. The 2nd wave influence never seemed to arrive. In fact, I never really noticed much of it throughout the whole album. Was I ever relieved. This was new Ash Borer, and it's better than ever!

You will notice that the production is certainly cleaner than ever before and I believe that is a good thing with "Cascadian bm" bands because they have a lot of depth in their songs and it is wonderful to hear as much of the music as you can. The vocals are also definitely way more up in the mix. The vocalist continues to have the haunting, snarling scream that seems to last an eternity. The guitar playing is relentless and never seems to let up for a minute unless there is a break in the speed. These breaks vary from good to excellent. They have a definite apocalyptic post-rock vibe to them that certainly don't detract from the overall dark mood of the album. If people do not like a lot of post-rock influence in their black metal I don't believe you should be worried about it being overwhelming. There is nothing cheesy or poorly thought out in these passages. They without a doubt add to the music and act as a sort of break from the intense weaving chaos of the full on black metal aspects of the songs.

There is also a bit of doom influence on the tracks as it seems to be the case with a lot of black metal bands these days. Those two genres seem to be more and more mixing together and often times like on this album the mix works very well. It provides a super heavy suffocating atmosphere which really lends to the dense aspect of this album that I had mentioned before. On "Convict All Flesh" there are some pretty awesome female choir like vocals that really seem to make the atmosphere far more majestic and beautiful. She doesn't actually sing anything like some female guest vocalists in other bands (ala Wolves in the Throne Room) but nonetheless she adds a beauty to the song that would not be there if not for her.

On the final song "Removed Forms" about 3/4 of the way through the song picks up quite a bit and an awesome riff plays and the vocalist does some amazing howls and moans that sound so inhuman it sounds simply amazing. It is definitely my favourite part of the album. The drum work especially at that point of the song sounds really good. The drumming is pretty damn tight throughout the album overall but that is a highlight for me personally.

Overall, this album was a wonderful surprise because it stayed true to the original Ash Borer form. Awesome powerful riffs, incredible drumming and agonizing vocals to create a wonderful dense and chilling atmosphere that I have come to love.